Are Leiarius pictus poisonous??

[technium]

My Red Snakehead the last week has been off his food, not eating live food, not eating any lancefish etc so went to fish shop today for some advice.

I told them that he was moved from his 8 foot tank to the 6 foot tank to be on his own as I caught him attacking my L Pictus and didnt want to loose it. Anyway after telling them about the snakehead being ill since they said it could be because the pictus has poisonous spikes for defending themselves and is could have injured the snakehead.

Is this right???

 

[jflowers]

Aquahobby.com

"The fins are also reputed to be poisonous and have been known to inflict painful wounds, so use caution when handling this fish! "

centralpets.com

"The Pictus Catfish has sharp serrated pectoral and dorsal fins, which are poisonous."

So it seems that they are, could not find any info on what sort of poison or its affects though.

HTH

Jon

 

[technium]

ok thanks but what does that mean for my poor snakehead thats been spiked by it, is it curtains, is there anything I can do for it, also are they dangerous for humans?

thanks again

T

 

[jflowers]

Well it seems they can cause painful wounds to humans who get spiked, so hopefully, your snakemouth only has a sore mouth or upset stomach. Like I said I could not find any info on the actual poison, try googling it and you may come up with more than I did. The type of poison is important as some may just cause temporary pain to ward off predators and some may kill nerves to subdue prey. As this seems a defence measure, hopefully its the first.

Jon